QMI AGENCY

Three Canadians are facing possible life sentences in Australia after they posed as players in a poker tournament so they could set up a drug lab in 2012, the Herald Sun reports.

Brian Yuan, 47, and Robin Byun and Edward Estrada, 33, have all pleaded guilty to conspiring to manufacture a commercial quantity of drugs, the newspaper reported.

They were arrested Aug. 15, 2012, at the Crown Casino in Melbourne. They had planned to flee the country that day after they noticed they had been followed and feared police or a rival drug gang were on to them, the newspaper reported.

Police searched a storage unit the suspects went to repeatedly and found enough ingredients to make 25 kg of crystal methamphetamine and 2.5 kg of pure meth, court heard.

Prosecutor Kevin Armstrong said all three men were involved in the operation, although it was hard to tell who did what exactly.